Donald Trump becomes 1st Republican presidential candidate to win Bucks County in over 35 years
For months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the Philadelphia suburbs were closely watched and visited numerous times by both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Bucks County, in particular, the largest swing county in the commonwealth, was heavily targeted by the Trump campaign in the months and weeks before Election Day, an effort that paid off for the former president and now president-elect.
Trump was projected to win Pennsylvania around 2 a.m. Wednesday and reached the 270 electoral college vote threshold later in the morning, partly thanks to wins in several other battleground states.
According to a Bucks County spokesperson, unofficial election results show that Trump beat Harris in the county by just 512 votes. Ballot counting wrapped up around 5 a.m. Wednesday, with about 80% of registered voters in the county casting a ballot this year.
Trump's win marks the first time in over 35 years that a Republican won Bucks County. The last time a Republican presidential candidate carried the county was President George H.W. Bush in 1988
At a watch party in Newtown, Trump supporters were exuberant when Pennsylvania was called for the former president overnight. Trump won the state in 2016 but lost to President Biden in 2020.
"I want the country to be safe, and I feel like he was the best one to do that," Bucks County voter Pat Smietana told CBS News Philadelphia Wednesday morning. "The border was a big issue for me, and that's why I voted for Trump."
But not all voters said they were happy with the election result.
"I have a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, and to think that he's the example that is leading our country with, he doesn't behave in a way that I would condone my children behaving," Doylestown resident Natasha Lichty said. "He has not done things that I think are acceptable."
"We overcame obstacles that nobody ever thought we could," Trump said on election night while vowing to fight for American families. "This will truly be the golden age of America."
According to CBS News, Harris won in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties.